Replies to post #74787 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[Sandy Mack]

He saw the problem and he blew it.

mlsoft...While we may disagree, I think we can do so on a purely philosophical basis. I am neither an economist, nor was I even involved in the markets during most of the '90s...I speak with far less experience behind me than most in this forum. That being said, I remain baffeled that any single individual can be vilified for our current economic woes. Our government is quite a complex machine and few of us are privy to the plethora of on- and off-the-record discussions that take place between its various branches before policy is devised and implemented. That margin requirements, or interest rates were not appropriately increased to "solve" the coming problem is insufficient in and of itself to conclude that a) it was Greenspan, himself, who was responsible, and b) there was no input to the decision from any other quarter. That, it seems, is too easy an evaluation of the past.

Sandy

[ardent jd]

mlsoft

.....yes, and the asset inflation you cite is only the tip of the iceberg, as those inflated assets were leveraged to create a mountain of debt. Total market has quadrupled over the past 15 years, and mortgage debt is up something like 9-fold over the past decade. It's relatively easy to deflate the stock market, but the legacy of debt overhang will take a decade or more to unwind. Meanwhile, what happens to consumer demand and capital spending?